Oprah’s Penthouse Makes Broker’s Dreams Come True

Even when she’s selling her sprawling Midtown penthouse for $7.75 million, Oprah Winfrey manages to spread hope and joy. She even made a little profit in the process, having bought the penthouse for $7.1 million in 2008. How does she do it?

When we heard that Ms. Winfrey’s Place 57 condo on East 57th Street sold to hedge fund partner Mark Hillery (as reported by The Real Deal earlier this week), we thought that naturally Mr. Hillery would be happy. He got the high-ceilinged, big-windowed pad, listed with Corcoran broker Mark Schoenfeld, for a few hundred thousand under the $7.9 million ask.

But little did we expect that his broker, Nesrin Anjollie Feradov, from boutique firm SKNY Realty, would be bowled over with emotion by the sale.

Ms. Fedarov told her rags to riches tale—from working in finance to becoming a down-of-her-luck high-end real estate broker with only $5 in the bank—to The New York Times.

Although Ms. Fedarov’s big stroke of luck was finding a client like Mr. Hillery (who looked at another $22 million apartment before Oprah’s—think of the commission on that one!), she sees the whole experience as nothing short of magical.

“If Oprah only knew that because of her apartment a single mom who has always struggled to make ends meet can not only pay her rent but her child’s tuition,” Ms. Feradov told The Times. “She, and my client, created a miracle in my life.”

The scrappy Ms. Feradov recounted how she used her wit and wiles to impress Mr. Hillery and his wife when they flew in from London to view apartments. She “hired a big S.U.V. from a car service,” and put on her “finest Gucci shoes” (we’re sure she shined them up herself after she finished sweeping the cinders from the fireplace).

Mr. Hillery will get newly-laid walnut floors, a “barely used Viking state-of-the-art kitchen” (we guess Oprah didn’t spend a lot of time in the three-bedroom pad) and a 750-square foot wraparound terrace. Ms. Feradov will get a commission of almost $200,000 (she can finally afford a decent pair of shoes).